Maryland Catholic Leaders Blast Birth Control Healthcare Law
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Catholic services across the country on Sunday—with Maryland being no exception—included admonitions against the Obama administration’s requirement that church-affiliated facilities offer birth control coverage in their employee health plans.
Cardinal-designate Edwin F. O'Brien said in a letter that the Archdiocese of Baltimore will not comply with federal law, even it means an end to health insurance for its 3,500 employees, the Baltimore Sun reported.
"We cannot–we will not–comply with this unjust law," said the letter, which the Sun reported was read during Mass at the area's 153 Roman Catholic parishes.
Other priests called the plan a purveyor of evil and by later in the week members of Congress weighed in on the controversial new health-care rule that requires employers to provide women workers contraceptive coverage, including sterilization, birth control without a co-pay and “morning-after” drug options. The measure is said to exclude churches but to cover religious colleges and hospitals.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Congress will overturn the policy, raising the possibility of a legislative showdown over religious freedom, according to The Washington Post.
But the organization Catholics for Choice is calling on its supporters to “tell our local media that the bishops are out of touch with the lived reality of the Catholic people” and “do not speak for us on this decision,” according to The New York Times.
Other groups noted that the law does not require women to use birth control, which is prohibited by the Catholic Church.
The Obama administration indicated it would be willing to compromise on the issue, according to The Times.
Obama political adviser David Axelrod said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program that the administration may look at imposing a grace period to “find a resolution that makes sense.”
“We’re going to look for a way to move forward that both guarantees women that basic preventive care that they need and respects the prerogatives of religious institutions,” he said.
What do you think? Let us know in our poll or in comments below.
daniel ray
5:33 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Saying that giving them the pills but not telling them to use it, means your stating that its okay to give a suicidal person a rope to hang themselves, but not tell them anything. Or giving a bank robber a gun. Or giving the taliban bombs and guns. The root of it all is that the object themselves are considered evil. And wth is "catholics" for choice? Its like a nazi party that's capatalist and against the slaughtering of jews? In the end, any person supporting the Obama andministrations view, is blinded. You know who's exempted? Muslims, cuz they think incurance is like gambeling. But the Christians are forced to carry the cross, as usual.
Chuck Burton
9:52 am on Friday, February 10, 2012
Birth control is a personal issue and has nothing to ndo with anthing Jesus ever said. The church just wants to tell people it's version of right and wrong, and make them cow-tow, and that makes the Catholic church a political organization and not a religious one.